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Jonathan Carnahan
"Knowing my brother-in-law, he probably deserves whatever you're about to do to him..."-Rick O'Connell to Meela Nais regarding Jonathan. Jonathan Carnahan is a fictional character, the brother of Evelyn (Evey) O'Connell, brother-in-law of Rick O'Connell, and uncle of Alexander (Alex) O’Connell in Universal Pictures’ revisionist Mummy trilogy. First introduced in the trilogy’s first installment, the character is portrayed by Scottish actor John Hannah (despite his character being English; he uses a British accent) in all three films thus far, primarily as a comic-relief sidekick. Jonathan also appeared in the animated television show The Mummy: The Animated Series (released on DVD as The Mummy: Quest for the Lost Scrolls), voiced by Tom Kenny, better known as the voice of popular Nickelodeon character Spongebob Squarepants. Character Biography: The Mummy Jonathan is the brother of British/Egyptian-descended librarian and Egyptian expert Evelyn Carnahan. He is first introduced in a scene early on in The Mummy where he plays a practical joke on his jumpy sister inside the library where she works. He hid himself inside an Egyptian coffin, and when Evelyn wandered close to the display Jonathan manipulated the mummy within to snap upwards as if alive, making a screeching noise to terrify Evey out of her wits. Laughing, he then popped up out of the coffin, revealing his joke, and appears to be drunken judging from his rather clumsy movements. Angered, Evey slaps him across the face, chastising him in a manner more akin to a mother correcting her child. When she sarcastically tells her brother to die “sooner than later before you ruin my career the way you’ve ruined yours,” Jonathan retorts that his career is now on a high note, suggesting that he once had a job connected to archeological digs. He then shows Evelyn a mysterious Egyptian star-shaped puzzle box, with a lock mechanism that makes the object snap open to reveal an ancient map to the legendary City of the Dead. Jonathan claims to have gotten the trinket “on a dig down in, uh, Thebes…” and both he and Evey discuss with her boss, the Curator Mr. Bey, the authenticity of the parchment. Jonathan believes in the legends surrounding the city containing a massive treasure horde belonging to King Seti I, and greedily anticipates plundering this fortune. Bey, secretly a member of the secret society the Medjai, devoted to guarding Hamunaptura from treasure seekers and such, mock-accidentally burns off a crucial section of the map, to Jonathan’s great alarm. Disregarding Bey’s advice to not bother investigating the origin of the box, Jonathan and Evelyn travel to a Cairo prison, to interrogate a certain man currently imprisoned and due to be hanged in minutes. The man, named Rick O’Connell, had gotten the box from an earlier adventure at the ruins of the fabled city, and Jonathan had actually picked his pocket and stole the object, revealing his prior claim to have gotten it in a dig to be a lie. Upon looking at Jonathan face-to-face, O’Connell immediately recognizes the man who robbed him, and punches a hapless Jonathan through the prison bars. Rick has agreed to lead Jonathan’s sister on a quest to find the city, in return for his release from prison. Jonathan, upon first meeting a newly shaved and cleaned-up O’Connell, tries to make peace by saying that he would never steal from a “partner,” after Rick warily checks to see if his wallet is still safely hidden in his jacket pocket. While sailing on a barge down the Nile River, Jonathan plays a card game with a gang of hotshot American thrill-seekers, Henderson, Burns and Daniels. When O’Connell walks over to check out his competition (the Americans are also looking for Hamunaptura, claiming that they have a guide who has been there and survived), Jonathan nearly gives away the fact that O’Connell also has been to the city and lived to return. Meekly trying to change the subject after Rick whacks him across the head with his rucksack, reminding him of his blabbering idiocy, O’Connell then angrily squeezes Jonathan’s shoulder as a warning to shut his mouth, before departing the game. Mere minutes later a team of Medjai assassins attacks the barge, intent on stealing the map and puzzle box. One of these Medjai, a man with a hook right-hand, catches site of the puzzle box on the floor in Evelyn’s cabin. Just as he motions to pick it up, Jonathan barges in, calling for his sister, and accidentally pushes the Medjai into a sofa that had been set aflame by a spilled lantern earlier. Jonathan quickly snatches his trinket before being chased out onto the deck by the hook-handed man, now on fire and in a blind rage. At that moment Jonathan spotted the group of Americans that he had been playing cards with earlier, firing their guns at the invading Medjai with reckless enthusiasm, whooping and hollering with enjoyment. Jonathan merely shook his head in disbelief, appalled by the Americans’ thrill-seeking nature. Just then, the inflamed hook-handed Medjai approached a helpless Jonathan, ready to kill him. From behind, the American named Henderson spotted the scene, and quickly fired multiple times into the Medjai, sending him tumbling into the river at Jonathan’s feet. An amazed Jonathan congratulated the Americans, claiming “and did I panic? I think not!”…just before diving off the deck into the water in cowardice as a fireball erupted in front of him. The next morning, Jonathan and Rick O’Connell and Evey, having survived the boat attack, tried to buy four camels from an Egyptian trader. He became frustrated with the seller’s misinterpretation of whether or not Jonathan wanted four camels or an entire herd. When O’Connell later stated wryly that they could have gotten the camels free if he (Jonathan) had just given the Arab Evelyn, Jonathan sarcastically replied with “yes, awfully tempting, wasn’t it?” Accompanied by Warden Gad Hassan, whom Jonathan disliked for his filthy manners and smelly aurora (not to mention Hassan’s annoying habit of snoring at night), the group set off into the Sarah, eventually arriving at the ruins of Hamunaptra at the same time as the American team. Setting up camp, O’Connell’s party explored the catacombs, with Jonathan accidentally dislodging a sarcophagus buried above them inside a subterranean room beneath a buried statue of Anubis. Evelyn examines the object, discovering a lock with the exact same shape as Jonathan’s puzzle box. Later, they use it to open the coffin within the sarcophagus, discovering a mummified man within. Fingernail marks scratched from within the coffin suggested that the man, formerly High Priest Imhotep, was buried alive as punishment for a despicable crime. Jonathan agrees with Rick and Evey in that, oddly, the mummy seems to still be in a state of decomposition after all these centuries… A night later, Jonathan awakens during the night when Rick and Evelyn accidentally read a page from the sacred Book of the Dead, which somehow summons a plague of locusts swarming throughout the camp. As the adventurers run for cover within the foreboding catacombs of the city, Jonathan and Rick become seperated from Evey by accident. Eventually both he and O’Connell find her in a different passage, staring with fear at something. Jonathan, along with Americans Henderson and Daniels, screeches to a horrified halt as they see the walking, talking, rotted mummy of Imhotep snarl at them; very much alive after having been unknowingly reawakened by Evey reading a spell from the Book. After Rick shoots the monster in the gut, they all flee the City of the Dead in terror, returning to Cairo, Egypt. There, Jonathan and Rick discover the presence of the reanimated mummy when, while at a bar in Fort Brydon, all the water and rivers in Egypt become blood, and Jonathan forebodingly recites a passage from the Bible describing said plague. The two, along with Evelyn (now determined to stop the evil mummy), then race to the apartment of one the Americans, Burns, to find Imhotep there regenerating back to a more human state after sucking Burns of his life force. Rick is tossed into the air by a furious Imhotep, landing on top of Jonathan and Daniels, but the mummy retreats at the sight of Evelyn’s cat. Later, two more plagues of the Bible emerge: darkness throughout Egypt and a spread of boils and sores on the skin of Egyptians, now zombified under Imhotep’s control. When Jonathan rushes out into the streets to start up his car in order for him and his companions to flee, he is spotted by a mob of these hypnotized people. He ingeniously improvises an act where he tricks the zombies into thinking he is one of them, chanting “Imhotep, Imhotep,” repeatedly. The mob buys the trick, and Jonathan slowly runs off once they pass and starts the car as Rick and the others rush out, ready to leave. Their mission now is to return to Hamunaptura and uncover the mystical Book of Amun Ra, which contains the only spell that can defeat Imhotep. As the heroes attempt to flee Cairo, they are attacked by the crazed mob, and this confrontation ends in the now-fully-human Imhotep abducting Evelyn, and Beni Gabor stealing the puzzle box. Both Jonathan and Rick and Ardeth Bay escape down a manhole, and the next morning they recruit Sir Winston Havelock to fly them to Hamunaptura to rescue Jonathan’s sister. The biplane is attacked by a magical sandstorm, causing them to make a crash landing. With Havelock dying upon impact, the three men head back into the City of the Dead. While Rick and Bay dig through a blocked chamber to where the Book of Amun Ra is located, Jonathan stands aside, lazily watching and criticizing the two for being too slow, oblivious to their exhausting work. Rick and Bay glare at Jonathan with annoyance, and the hapless man lets them continue. Just then, Jonathan spies an illustration on the chamber wall containing gems which are actually hibernating scarab beetles. Picking one off the wall, the scarab within broke out and began crawling under the terrified Jonathan’s skin through his arm. O’Connell quickly sliced the bug out with a pocket-knife, before shooting it. Eventually Jonathan arrives in the sacrificial necropolis, having retrieved the locked-shut golden Book. He shows up in time to distract Imhotep, who was preparing Evelyn’s sacrifice, and hides off to try and read inscriptions on the Book’s cover as Rick rescues Evey. He finally comes up with a spell, which, to his horror, actually summons a team of soldier mummies to battle Rick. Soon, he manages to read another inscription after having some trouble pronouncing a symbol, which Evey replies the answer just in time for Jonathan to regain command of the soldiers, ordering them to kill the recently-revived Ank-su-namun. Furious, Imhotep approaches Jonathan with murderous intent, but Rick leaps in to distract the mummy while Jonathan, who has managed to snatch the puzzle box from Imhotep’s robes, and his sister unlock the Book of Amun Ra. They succeed in killing the mummy just before the City begins to collapse into the desert, and in his panic to escape Jonathan accidentally trips, dropping the Book of Amun Ra into a bog, much to the chagrin of Evelyn. He and Rick and Evelyn run out of the ruins just in the nick of time, and Jonathan is just about to catch his breath when Ardeth Bay appears from behind, scaring the bejeezes out of Jonathan. After saying farewell to the Medjai, Jonathan remarks sarcastically how they now must return home “empty handed…again!” When Rick and Evelyn kiss passionately, he moans in exhasperation, before he and the two lovebirds ride atop their camels back to Cairo…unaware that they are carrying smuggled gold in their travel sacks. The Mummy Returns In the first sequel, The Mummy Returns, eight years have passed. Jonathan now lives with his sister and Rick O’Connell, who has married Evelyn, and is the uncle of young Alexander O’Connell. He appears to be pursuing a relationship, evidenced by him sucking up to an attractive lady just before being hauled away by Lock-Nah’s men. As he is interrogated, (the cultists have mistaken him for Rick), he references an unsettled debt to ‘Johnny,’ implying a shady occupation. When Ank-su-namun’s reincarnated form of Meela Nais appears in the room, Jonathan even attempts to woo her with the line, “Did I mention I’m single now?” However, the woman then threatens him with an Egyptian asp snake, and is only saved when his brother-in-law arrives to confront the intruders. Jonathan quickly snatches his precious golden stick before diving into the bathroom, hiding in the tub under a foamy bubble bath. Both he and Rick leap out the bathroom window, and see the cultists abduct Evelyn. When Ardeth Bay surprisingly shows up and warns them of Imhotep’s imminent return, Jonathan correctly chastises Bay for not “making sure that doesn’t happen?” However, his interest is sparked when Alex shows his father that he has put on the magical Bracelet of Anubis, made of gold. As the team drive off to rescue Evey, Jonathan sits in the back as Bay explains the situation, and snorts at the predictable ‘wipe out the world’ ploy. This section has not yet been finished. Please refrain from editing until this section has been completed by it’s creator. Thank You. The Mummy: The Animated Series Jonathan also was featured in the animated series, voiced by veteran cartoon voice-actor Tom Kenny. Jonathan still retained his bumbling and goofy ways, and served as mostly comic relief. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Jonathan will return, reprised by regular John Hannah, in the upcoming third film. In this installment, which takes place post-WWII, Jonathan has used his millions to create a fancy, over-the-top nightclub in Shanghai slyly named IMHOTEP’S. He will accompany Rick and Evelyn and a grown-up Alex on their third mishap with the reanimated undead, this time facing off against nefarious Chinese mummy Qin Shi Huang. In a video posted online, it is shown that, in the film, there is to be a large-scale chase sequence through Shanghai, and Jonathan clumsily ignites a massive number of fireworks, resulting in a gigantic explosion. A moment later, he is shown panicking as his back catches fire, and Rick tries to put it out mid-chase. The last scene in the movie is a romantic dance inside IMHOTEP’S. In The Middle of the film Jonathan blames Rick and Evelyn of being a magnet for mummies and at the end of the film, Jonathan gets in a cab and proclaims that he is traveling to Peru, a place free of mummies. Following this statement, we learn that he was the only magnet beacause: "shortly thereafter, mummies were found in Peru..." Characterization: Personality Jonathan is played as a hapless, naive con man and greedy, cowardly opportunist. He often criticizes people for such insipid things as taking too long digging through rocks, and many times is actually beautifully unaware of the serious situations he finds himself in. A true British-minded person, with a skeptical disapproval of Americans’ cocky, wild attitude, Jonathan is also, according to a throwaway line in the first film, a former businessman; although it is not elaborated on what particular field he was in, although it was most likely archeology. Jonathan is a notorious liar, saying to his sister in The Mummy, “I lie to everybody…” and can be quite the smoothie at times, especially with woman. He has the stuffed-up aura of a proud, pompous ladies man, and in The Mummy Returns is shown wooing an attractive woman inside his sister’s London home. Jonathan could be described as pure vanity, and often gets into arguments and confrontations with native Egyptian people. He also has a stubborn ownership of his property, such as the Egyptian key/“puzzle box” and the golden stick later revealed as the Scepter of Osiris. Skills Jonathan often claims to have many different titles and professional experience in such activities as hunting, target practice, throwing, and driving at high-speed. Carnahan, Jonathan Carnahan, Jonathan Carnahan,Jonathan